Hendrix Club Scene: Climbing Coalition

WILLIAM HADEN-CHOMPHOSY '13, CO-PRESIDENT, CLIMBING COALITION:

The Hendrix Climbing Coalition. We’re just a group of people who enjoy climbing.
Our big goals are getting new climbers to start at the gym just because that’s a
really good environment to help people who have never climbed before. Then from
there, there are a lot of good outdoor climbing up the Ozarks, in Northern Central
Arkansas, which is only a couple of hours away from here. We want to get people
started climbing here at the gym, where we have more control of the environment
for which they can learn in it and taking trips up to the Ozark National Forest.
There are a lot of different areas up there where we can have really good trips.

MICHAEL TARNE '14, CO-PRESIDENT, CLIMBING COALITION:

Went climbing outside, pretty much right away, did that for my orientation trip,
and then got really interested. I started going out with my friends and then, you
know, since we have a really good wall here, it made for an easy way to stay active.

ROBERT TUNG '13, CLUB MEMBER, CLIMBING COALITION:

I got into climbing in elementary school. My friend Dan started having birthday
parties at a local climbing gym and so I started doing it then and kind of off and
on throughout middle school and high school, but I really started to take climbing
seriously at Hendrix probably within the last couple of years.

HADEN-CHOMPHOSY:

My interest in rock climbing was kind of born out of prior activities. I did
gymnastics whenever I was growing up and they have a lot of relatable qualities
just in the way that you climb versus the way that you do things in other activities.
That’s kind of what got me into it and from that point it’s kind of like problem
solving in a lot of ways. Just figuring out new ways of doing things is always a
fun part of climbing.

TUNG:

I really have met a lot of different, interesting people at the climbing wall
just at all different levels of climbing ability. I’ve been learning of a lot of
new techniques and ways of climbing and types of climbing like bouldering, or league
climbing, or top rope climbing.

HADEN-CHOMPHOSY:

Part of what the climbing coalition does is we have invested money into equipment
so that people don’t have to have their own equipment, they can just check it out
from us or go on trips with members of the climbing coalition. We cover that cost
because we know that can be a barrier to entry for a lot of people that we know
that would enjoy climbing.

TUNG:

I really like that Hendrix has a lot of climbing equipment. They’ve got crash
pads and quick draws and ropes and harnesses that students can use for free, which
is nice because it lets people who don’t have their own climbing gear get out and
climb safely. It’s pretty expensive equipment that a lot of students don’t have
access to or can’t afford. Hendrix has really allowed students to start climbing
and we’ve been able to take a lot of nice trips to places like Horseshoe Canyon
Ranch and Jasper or Fern, that’s near Ozark, Arkansas. We’ve been having a lot more
opportunities to go out and climb on some real rocks as opposed to just climbing
in the gym.

TARNE:

I really hope that the climbing coalition keeps growing. We already have between
20 and 30 active members and the potential for a lot more here at Hendrix.